Low power wireless display tag systems and methods

ABSTRACT

A low-power system for use with Wireless Display Tags (WDTs) includes, in one or more exemplary arrangements, various power management techniques, including receiver wake-up, RF logic sharing, RF repeaters and a frequency doubling power amplifier which operates on the absolute value of the input signal.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 11/019,705, filed on Dec. 20, 2004, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,090,125and entitled “Low Power Wireless Display Tag Systems and Methods”, whichis related to the following co-pending applications filed concurrentlyherewith, assigned to the same assignee as the present invention, andincorporated herein by reference in full: U.S. patent application Ser.No. 11/019,660, entitled “An Error Free Method for Wireless Display TagInitialization,” U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/019,978, entitled“Wireless Display Tag Unit,” U.S. patent application Ser. No.11/019,976, entitled “Wireless Display Tag (WDT) Using Active andBackscatter Transceivers,” U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/019,494,entitled “RF Backscatter Transmission with Zero DC Power Consumption,”and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/019,916, entitled “MultiuserWireless Display Tag Infrastructure and Methods.”

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to electronic inventory systems adaptedfor use with electronic shelf labels, and more particularly relates tosystems and methods for enabling communication among such shelf labelsand a host system, including networks and systems which are adapted forwireless communication.

2. Description of Related Art

Referring to FIG. 1, retail stores typically display pricing informationon paper labels located on shelf edges (shelf labels); FIG. 1 shows anexample of a typical printed shelf label. Shelf labels are fitted intoC-shaped channels at the edge of product display shelves. Typically, anin-store computer-based printing system downloads “Price Files” from acentral location, such as a Retail Chain Headquarters. The informationin Price Files is printed on shelf labels and these new shelf labels aremanually inserted into the shelf C-channels, usually on a weekly basis.A typical large retail store must update thousands of shelf labels eachweek.

Referring now to FIG. 2, FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, some Electronic Shelf Labels(ESL) 10 have been produced in an effort to automate the shelf labelingprocess. As shown in FIG. 4, ESLs 10 display basic price information ona segmented liquid crystal display (LCD).

Referring to FIG. 2, ESLs 10 may receive display information by infrared(IR) or radio frequency (RF) communication 12. Current ESLs 10 often useunidirectional communications techniques to transmit data from thein-store computer-based pricing system to the deployed ESLs 10. SomeESLs 10 are capable of bidirectional communication, allowing thedeployed ESLs 10 to send information or requests to the in-storecomputer system 14. Communication between an in-store computer system 14and the deployed ESLs 10 is facilitated by one or more access points 16.Access points 16 are often located in the ceilings of the store.

However, the power requirements and limited range for typical prior anelectronic shelf labels have led to serious shortcomings. In part, theseshortcomings have resulted in prior art display tags extending beyondthe shelf C-channels. In addition, such shortcomings have made itnecessary to situate costly readers proximate to the tags, leading tocostly networks which significantly limit the usability of RFID devices.In part, these shortcomings are associated with the power consumption ofthe transceiver contained within many such devices. In a typical priorart system, the power amplifier drives the antenna of the RFID device,and antenna power represents a substantial portion of the overall powerconsumed by the device. In such devices, the input waveform typicallyhas little effect on the output waveform when the input amplitude isless than the turn-on voltage of the active device in the transmitter.In such arrangements, the waveform energy between the negative peak ofthe input waveform and the turn-on voltage of the active device is notonly wasted, but can lead to undesirable parasitic losses.

Thus there has been a need for an RFID system which providescost-effective, low power communication among electronic shelf labelsand their associated host system without requiring excessive size.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a plurality of techniques and systemswhich optimize low power operation of RFID devices, thereby overcomingmany of the limitations of the prior art and enabling the cost-affectionproduction and implementation of a low-profile Wireless Display Tag(WDT) that fits within the confines of shelf-edge C-channel on a retailstore display shelf, or, alternatively, can be used as a hang tag forother items.

In particular, the present invention provides methods and techniques formanaging the power consumption of each WDT, including powering downthose portions of the WDT not needed at a particular time or for aparticular operation. Other techniques include establishing appropriatethreshold signal levels for waking up high-power-consumption portions ofthe WDT electronics, in particular the receiver, and optimizing theduration of operation of such high-power-consumption portions, includingoperating in short bursts and transmitting ID information early in thecommunications protocol.

In addition, the present invention provides for sharing ofhigh-power-consumption devices across multiple WDTs, therebysignificantly reducing power consumption and cost since such devicestypically represent significant costs as well as high power consumption.

Further, the present invention provides for low power, low costrepeaters which may be strategically placed in locations requiring WDTsto be read. Such repeaters typically will pick up weak uplink signalsfrom the WDT devices, and then boost and retransmit those signals toeither the host system, either directly or through intermediate devicessuch as access points.

In addition, a power amplifier may be provided which is driven with theabsolute value of the input waveform, thus minimizing power waste andavoiding detrimental parasitic effects. In at least some implementationsof such techniques, the frequency of the power amplifier can be reduced,for example halved, to provide further power reduction.

It will be appreciated that not all of the foregoing aspects of thepresent invention are required to be implemented in each embodiment, andthus various implementations may include selected aspects of theinvention to provide solutions which are optimized for each particularapplication of the system and WDT of the present invention,

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a prior art example shelf label printed on paper.

FIG. 2 shows how price information may be transferred from centralcomputers to ESLs by RF or IR transmission.

FIG. 3 shows a system in accordance with the present invention,including several of the novel aspects of the present invention.

FIG. 4 shows in schematic form a pulsed receiver capable of burstoperation in accordance with one aspect of the invention.

FIG. 5 shows in schematic form a design for a signal threshold detectorfor turning on a receiver in response to a sufficiently large signal, inaccordance with another aspect of the present invention.

FIG. 6 illustrates in block diagram form a WDT in accordance with thepresent invention in which a single RF portion is shared among multipledisplay tags all housed within a common housing.

FIG. 7 illustrates an alternative to the arrangement of FIG. 6 in whicha master WDT, which includes a relatively high power RF transceiver,communicates with other proximately located display tags in accordancewith any of a group of communications techniques, including wired, IR orlow power RF.

FIG. 8 shows in schematic form the aspect of the invention show in FIGS.6 and 7 wherein the internal communications bus in an analog bus.

FIG. 9 shows in schematic form the aspect of the invention show in FIGS.6 and 7 wherein the internal communications bus in a digital bus.

FIG. 10 illustrates an aspect of the invention in which repeaters areused to boost and retransmit signals from WDTs to a host system.

FIG. 11 illustrates a repeater in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 12 illustrates in schematic form a power amplifier which operateson the absolute value of the input waveform, in accordance with yetanother aspect of the present invention.

FIG. 13 illustrates in schematic form a frequency-doubling poweramplifier which operates on the absolute value of the input waveform.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring first to FIG. 3, a system in accordance with the presentinvention is illustrated. In particular, numerous aspects of the presentinvention are illustrated in a robust exemplary implementation, althoughit will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that not all of theseaspects of the inventions are necessarily included in everyimplementation. A wireless display tag (WDT) 300 comprises a receiver302 and transmitter 304, which may be integrated as a transceiver in atleast some embodiments. Digital logic 306 handles communications andalso manages the functions of the WDT, as described in the relatedapplications, including driving a display 308. In a typical arrangement,the communications between the WDT and an associated host [not shown]are wireless and occur through radio space 310. The communications withthe host may be received by a gateway or other access point 312. The WDT300 may also include wake up circuitry 314, which responds to anappropriate incoming signal, such as shown at 316, to cause the receiver302 or other portions of the digital logic 306 to wake up as discussedhereinafter in connection with FIGS. 4 and 5. The receiver 302 istypically caused to wake up for the purpose of receiving data packets asshown at 316. In an exemplary arrangement, power management logic mayalso be provided for managing the shut-down of portions of the digitallogic, or otherwise optimizing power consumption in the WDT. A solarcell 320 may be provided as a source of power for the WDT 300, althoughpower from the solar cell may be supplemented by a rechargeable or otherbattery, or by a wired connection. A light source 321 may be of anysuitable type, including either natural or artificial light.

In an alternative arrangement, a WDT 322 may include a receiver 302 anda transmitter 324, which may again be integrated in at least somearrangements and utilize the communications techniques described in therelated applications. In addition, the transmitter 324 may be afrequency doubling amplifier such as discussed hereinafter in connectionwith FIGS. 12 and 13. The WDT 322 typically includes digital logic 306which in turn typically drives a display 308.

A still further alternative arrangement is shown with RF controller 330,which may include a transceiver for wireless communications with thehost through radio space 310 and, in some embodiments, a gateway 312.The RF controller 330 typically includes a transceiver or radio 332which communicates with logic 334. The logic 334 manages communicationsbetween the host and the RF controller 330, and also drives multipledisplay controls 336, each of which may have associated therewith adisplay 338, The operation of the RF controller 330 operates asdiscussed hereinafter in connection with FIGS. 6-9.

Referring next to WDT repeater 350, such a repeater may be used to boostand retransmit signals from the WDTs 300, 322 and/or 330, as discussedhereinafter in connection with FIGS. 10 and 11. The repeater 350typically communicates wirelessly with the WDTs and also with the hostor Gateway 312. It will be appreciated that like numerals are used forlike elements to simply discussion.

Referring next to FIG. 4, a pulsed, or burst-mode, receiver 302 is shownin greater detail, together with an appropriate waveform for waking upthe receiver 302. The wake-up process may include pulsing the LNA poweras shown in the waveform 400 in response to an appropriate edge or otherportion of the packet train 402. The result is that the LNA 404 ispowered up only during the appropriate period when the LNA is receivingpackets, which may or may not be destined for the WDT. It will beappreciated that the receiver is turned on only for short bursts. Forexample, typical modern RFIC circuits can be turned on for a fewnanoseconds, which is sufficient to determine if the desired signal ispresent This permits the time that the circuit is on to be short, sothat time-average power consumption is significantly reduced. The timespan of the received bits is much longer, for example on the order ofmicroseconds. This yields a factor on the order of 1000 between receiveron time and bit time, which permits significant power savings.

The packets 402 are arranged so that the WDT ID occurs early on in thepacket. Therefore, each WDT knows promptly if the incoming packets aredestined for it, and can either remain powered up or power back downdepending on whether that WDT is the destination for the incomingpackets.

In addition, a solar cell may be provided in addition to a battery, andis usually sufficient to power the digital circuitry and the display ifthe lighting is sufficient. The solar cell may also provide supplementalpower for circuitry that has a higher instantaneous current demand, forexample the RF and analog circuitry. A switching regulator withcapacitive or inductive storage elements can be used to provide powerfor the WDT to meet the requirements of circuits with high instantaneouspower demands, but low average-power demands.

Referring next to FIG. 5, a circuit for providing a WDT with adeep-wake-up mode is illustrated. The implementation shown offers theadditional feature that the receiver shown consumes no DC current. Inoperation, a sufficiently large (eg., 2 V_(pp) or 10 dBm) radio signalis received on the antenna 500, which is then rectified by the diode505. The signal is then integrated by the RC circuit of resistor 510 andcapacitor 515. The FET 520 receives the integrated signal which turns onthe FET and in turn signals the digital logic 306. The logic 306 thenturns on the receiver 302, which determines whether the incoming signalis indeed a wake-up signal destined for that WDT. If so, the WDT iswakes up, or is enabled. If not, the WDT goes back to sleep and waitsfor the next wake-up signal. It will be appreciated that, although a FET520 is shown in FIG. 5, numerous other devices will provide the samefunction, including a BJT, HBT, and so on.

Referring next to FIGS. 6 and 7, an arrangement is shown where a singleRF controller is shared among multiple WDT's, either housed together[FIG. 6] or housed separately [FIG. 7]. The configuration of FIG. 6includes an antenna 60 which supplies an incoming signal to a single RFcontroller 605 with associated digital logic which drives a plurality ofdisplay devices 610A-n housed within a single housing. The configurationof FIG. 7 includes an antenna 600 which supplies a single RF controller605. The controller and associated logic in turn control a plurality ofdiscrete displays 610A-n. The configuration of FIG. 6 offers theadvantage of having numerous displays within a very limited spaces, suchas for crowded shelves, and also offers the power and cost savingsassociated with having only one receiver. The configuration of FIG. 7offers the advantage of discrete displays which may be separatelydisposed even if relatively proximate to one another, all served by asingle RF controller. The displays may communicate by wired, wireless orIR techniques known to those skilled in the art. In eitherconfiguration, it will be appreciated that the sharing of an RFcontroller with multiple displays essentially provides a shelf areanetwork, with significant cost and power savings.

Referring next to FIG. 8, another feature of the design of FIGS. 6 and 7may be better appreciated. In the design of FIG. 8, an antenna 800 feedsan RF receiver 805, which in turn feeds an analog BB 810. At this point,the analog signal is distributed across an analog bus 815, whichcommunicates with digital controls 820A-n. The digital controls provideinput to the displays 825A-n. Referring next to FIG. 9, a similar designis shown, but with a digital bus. To simply discussion, like referencenumerals are used for like elements. In FIG. 9, a digital BB 900receives an input signal from analog BB 810, and converts that signal todigital form for distribution on a digital bus 905. The bus 905 suppliesappropriate signals to display controllers 820A-n and displays 825A-n.

FIG. 10 illustrates in schematic diagram form the use of a powered RFrepeater to reduce the number of expensive readers required for atypical sales or other inventory-management environment. In thearrangement of FIG. 10, a plurality of groups of WDTs 1000A-1000 n aredistributed throughout the managed environment. Each group of WDTscommunicates wirelessly with an associated one of a group of RFIDrepeaters 1010A-1010 n, where each repeater can perform a near-fieldread of the associated WDTs. The RFID repeaters 1010A-1010 n in turnprovide a repeater uplink to a central receiving station 1020 such as anaccess point or other device having LAN connectivity to the host server[not shown]. The link to the receiving station 1020 may be wired or, ifwireless, may be any wireless protocol such as 802.11x. If the WDTsoperate in backscatter mode, a continuous wave (“CW”) signal maycontinue to be provided by the access points as shown at 1025, ratherthan the repeaters, thus simplifying the design of the repeaters andreducing their cost, In addition, in some implementations, the repeatersoperate bidirectionally to retransmit signals from the access points tothe WDTs. Such an arrangement is illustrated in FIG. 11, in which likeelements have like reference numerals from FIG. 10. It will also beappreciated that the RFID repeaters 1010A-n may communicate with theRFID tags using a first protocol, and may communicate with the centralreceiving station or access point 1020 with a different protocol. Forexample, a repeater may listen to WDTs 1000A-n using the EPCglobalprotocol in the 800-900 MHz range, while communicating with the centralstation 1020 in the 2.4 GHz, 5.7 GHz or other suitable band. Forexample, communication with the central station 1020 may be inaccordance with the IEEE 802.11 standard.

Repeaters 1000A-n have several advantages, depending upon the particularimplementation. Repeaters are not required to fit within the C-channelor other limited configuration, and thus do not have the same formfactor constraints as WDTs. This permits the repeaters to use largebatteries or other conventional power sources. In addition, if batterypower is used, the batteries can be changed easily since far fewerrepeaters that WDTs are required. Likewise, the repeaters can beproduced cost effectively since they need only front-end discriminationof RF signals that need to be boosted and back-end signal boosters andretransmission.

In some implementations it may be desirable to boost the range of one ormore of the access points, or to bring the effective range of accesspoints close to the WDTs, by running a wire close to the WDTs, forexample down a shelf of the managed environment. The wire can beimplemented on a flexible printed circuit board with self-stickadhesive, or in any other suitable format. The wire can operate as along wire antenna for the purpose of providing CW power for those WDTsthat operate using backscatter transmission. Alternatively, manystandard antennae may be used on the printed circuit board, includingdipole, patch, and so on. One or more transmission lines printed on theprinted circuit board can feed the antennae, or splitters can be used tocouple to the antennae if only a single wire is used.

Referring next to FIGS. 12 and 13, a power amplifier such as shown at324 (FIG. 3) can be more fully appreciated. The absolute value of aninput waveform 1200 is shown as an input to a node 1205, where aninductive choke 1210 controls the switching of a FET 1215. The output ofthe FET 1215 is provided to matching circuitry 1220 and then to theantenna 1225. Halving the frequency and driving the circuit with theabsolute value of the input waveform 1200 provides improved efficiencyof a Class B or Class C nonlinear power amplifier, and the inputwaveform pulses are restored by the output circuitry as shown in FIG.12. This arrangement has the advantage that a smaller area of thewaveform is wasted in nonlinear operation, and also produces lessparasitic losses. Finally, the half frequency is easier to generate thanthe primary frequency.

Referring next to FIG. 13, the generation of the absolute value waveformcan be better appreciated. A sinusoidal input waveform 1300 provides theinput to a pair of differentially connected FETs 1305A-B, with one gate1310 controlled by the positive going signal, and the other gate 1315controlled by the negative-going signal. The sources of the FETs 1305A-Bare connected to a current source IDC 1320, which is connected to groundat the other end. The sources of the FETs 1305A-B are also connected toone end of a blocking capacitor 1325, which is on its other endconnected to the output node 1330 of the absolute value circuit. Thesignal at the node 1330 is the same as that shown as the input to FIG.12. The remainder of the circuit can be seen to be the same as FIG. 12,and so is assigned like reference numerals.

Having fully described an exemplary embodiment of the invention,together with numerous alternatives and equivalents, it will be apparentto those skilled in the art that numerous additional alternatives andequivalents also exist which do not depart from the present invention.As a result, the foregoing description is for purposes of illustration,and the invention is to be limited only by the appended claims.

1. A shelf-area network comprising: a plurality of displays configuredto fit at a shelf edge; one or more shared radio frequency (RF)receivers adapted to receive transmissions for a host, the transmissionsfrom the host comprising data for the displays; and digital logicresponsive to the one or more shared RF receivers for controlling theplurality of displays in accordance with the data from the host.
 2. Ashelf-area network, as recited in claim 1, further including a housingfor enclosing the plurality of displays.
 3. A shelf-area network, asrecited in claim 1, further including a plurality of housings, eachhousing enclosing a display and each display further comprising controllogic responsive to the digital logic for displaying the data on thedisplay.
 4. A shelf-area network, as recited in claim 3, wherein thedigital logic communicates with the control logic of each display bywireless techniques.
 5. A shelf-area network, as recited in claim 3,wherein the digital logic communicates with the control logic of eachdisplay by optical techniques.
 6. A shelf-area network, as recited inclaim 3, wherein the digital logic communicates with the control logicof each display by a wired connection.
 7. A power management for tagscomprising: a host system for generating a wake up signal; transmissionmeans for communicating the wake up signal to a plurality of tags; a tagincluding; wake-up logic for detecting the wake up signal, digital logicand a receiver circuit, the digital logic responsive to the wake-uplogic for activating the receiver circuit, the receiver circuitdetermining whether the wake-up signal is for the intended tag based ona tag identifier in the wake-up signal.
 8. A power management system forwireless tags comprising: a plurality of wireless tags which transmit anear-field signal in accordance with a first protocol, a centralreceiving station which communicates in accordance with a secondprotocol, and at least one RF repeater, the RF repeater adapted toreceive signals in accordance with the first protocol and to transmitsignals in accordance with the second protocol.
 9. A power managementsystem for wireless display tags having a range of radio frequency (RF)communications comprising: a plurality of wireless display tags whichtransmit a near-field signal in accordance with a first protocol, acentral receiving station which communicates in accordance with a secondprotocol, and at least one radio frequency (RF) repeater, the RFrepeater adapted to receive signals in accordance with the firstprotocol and to transmit signals in accordance with the second protocol,wherein the range of RF communications of the system is extended.